


Padmé's Counsel

by JakkuCrew (fromstars)



Series: Queen's Blood [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: (sort of. ish.), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Force Ghosts, Force-Sensitive Padmé Amidala, Gen, Ghosts, Magical Artifacts, Post-Canon, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Sith magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-31 01:47:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6450472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromstars/pseuds/JakkuCrew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Although he knew he would tower above her when standing, she seemed tall: her spine steel, and her demeanor proud. Idly, Ben wondered if the gown the sending wore was a personal favorite, rather than her burial dress. It looked heavy — a dark blue-black gown that kissed the floor, with billowing sleeves. The collar of her dress swooped outwards like a blossoming lily, exposing the narrow of her throat. Atop her head was a silver crescent, fixed like a heavy halo that weighted her gaze. </p><p>-- So <i>this</i> was Padmé Amidala.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Padmé's Counsel

Ben kneeled on the hard stone floors of the temple, fists curled into the fabric of his robes. The amulet Abattar should have granted him a channel to Darth Vader, should have give him the power to call upon ghosts within the force. Its magics were unparalleled, the power he felt from it pulsing. Instead, he had been betrayed — cast aside by the last of his own blood, _discarded by even the memory of his grandfather_ —-

“No,” the ghost before him said softly. “This is not abandonment.”

Ben blinked, casting his gaze upwards. It was strange to see the woman who had given birth to his mother, to recognize her. Although he knew he would tower above her when standing, she seemed tall: her spine steel, and her demeanor proud. Idly, Ben wondered if the gown the sending wore was a personal favorite, rather than her burial dress. It looked heavy — a dark blue-black gown that kissed the floor, with billowing sleeves. The collar of her dress swooped outwards like a blossoming lily, exposing the narrow of her throat. Atop her head was a silver crescent, fixed like a heavy halo that weighted her gaze. So _this_ was Padmé Amidala.

Ben had known precious little about her, even less than the other Queen that would have been his grandmother, had she still been alive. Bitterly, Ben wondered what it would have felt like to have known either of them — to have his mother tell him stories of Alderaan, or of her birth mother’s life on Naboo.

Leia had told him so little. He had only known so much. But he _had_ known it was her, the moment the ghost had appeared.

“I was meant to find grandfather,” Ben said. _“Why?_ Why doesn’t he answer me?”

“He has not abandoned you,” Padmé answered, features softening. “But he is unable to return,” she said, gracefully dropping to the floor before him. “Oh, Ben. I cannot continue to watch my grandson struggle under the shackles of the dark side. Or the tyranny of empires continue to place the galaxy into bondage and war.”

A faint, ethereal hand stretched out to caress his cheek. Ben flinched, and then brokenly laughed at himself for doing so. Since when had he begun to let fear show in his body? How long until Snoke could taste his doubt, his disgust?

“This amulet — I needed _grandfather_ ,” Ben swallowed, his voice thick. “I needed his power, his knowledge of the force — I won’t survive returning as a failure.”

Snoke already doubted his abilities. The death of his father had not strengthened him. Without Darth Vader, his future was bleak indeed. _With_ him — perhaps he could have overthrown Snoke, taken power into his own hands.

“You will survive.” Padmé said firmly. “Everything you need, you have. Did you think your grandfather was the only one to have struggled? To have fought?” Her face twisted, and for a moment, Ben saw her own remorse, her own fear brush over her determined features.

“I was elected Queen of Naboo as a child, under the orchestration of the man who became Emperor Palpatine.”

 _“Darth Sidious,”_ Ben said softly, recalling the name that Snoke had fed him. Grandfather’s master — his _other_ master.

Padmé's shoulders rose in tacit agreement. “My home world was threatened, my people attacked, the democracy I worked so hard to serve strangled before me. And had I known, I do not think I could have stopped him. His rise to power was at my unwitting hands.”

She had…helped him? Ben’s brow furrowed, and in response, memories of places he had never been, and things he had never done flooded his mind. Deep within his throat, the demand for a vote of _no confidence_ rumbled, and he felt the way the air became heavier under heavy white face paint. A new chancellor — a supreme leader, the Emperor… and then _pain_ , waves of horror and despair as the senate roared in favor of the death of the Republic. He felt choked. And yet, the sensation was all too familiar. 

“I did not know, then,” Padmé said, as the memories she had shared with him flickered away like dying candlelight. “I had always been a pawn.”

“You…” Ben faltered. “You could not have stopped him. The fall of the Republic was inevitable, just as the destruction of the New Republic was _destined_ — weakened by corruption and _greed_ , by petty bureaucracy.” He spat, drawing himself straighter. He had watched as his mother struggled within the Republic’s walls, as politicians devoured stability and democracy in favor of personal gains.

“ _No._ The fight had weakened him for that long — our resistance kept him at bay, collapsed the Empire,” Padmé shook her head, the diadem fixed to her hair reflecting as she moved. “The establishment of liberty is difficult, the peace of a democracy cannot be achieved alone — but you are not free from beginning the work. _That_ is what Anakin started, what he believed, before he was taken by the Dark Side.”

She rose to her feet, chin held high. "It is up to you to take this burden, once Snoke has been defeated." 

Mirroring her movements, Ben also stood up. “By then I will be dead.”

“My grandson,” Padmé tilted her head, a small smile curling her lips. “Attempting to kill you will be much harder than Snoke imagines. Let me show you what can still be done—,” she said, beckoning towards him. He took a half step, shrinking under the critical gaze of the ghost. Padmé reached out a hand, stretching towards the amulet now hung from Ben’s neck.

“Let me help you,” she said, before a blinding light filled the chambers, causing Ben to screw his eyes shut against the glare.  _“Let me help—“_


End file.
